Today's Stroll Down Memory Lane is dedicated to my maternal great-grandmother, Sarah Galmore-Thompson of Adams County, Mississippi who lived to be 104 years old. I was fortunate enough in this lifetime to have known this strong willed, god-fearing, family woman.Sarah Galmore-Thompson was born to Kendy and Clara Boyd-Galmore in Adams County, Mississippi on December 30, 1893. She married Calvin Thompson in 1917. They had eight children together; Calvin Jr., Ethel, James, Benjamin, Margaret, Clara, Anderson and Joseph. Mama Sarah, as she was affectionately known by her offsprings, was a strong willed, hardworking, proud woman who fiercely loved her family. She and Calvin "Papa Lovie" Thompson Sr. were able to purchase land in Sibley, Mississippi where they raised their family. In her 'retired' years, Mama Sarah enjoyed being with her family and working around her home and in the church. She often made preserves from fruit from the fig and pear trees on her property. Mama Sarah lived a long, productive life being the last of her siblings to pass away. She died on January 2, 1998; just days after her son Anderson passed away. Sarah and her son Anderson are interned at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church cemetery in Sibley, Mississippi.

My personal memories of my great-grandmother were of a no-nonsense little petite old lady who had to put a smart-alecky teenager in check more than I care to remember. LOL The summer I turned 15, I was fortunate enough to spend the summer out in "the country" of Adams county, Mississippi. When I wasn't out kicking rocks, I was talking with my great-grandmother. We sat and talked alot. She introduced me to the Galmore Family by allowing me to look through her many photos. One of the most memorable photos was the funeral photo of her older sister Nannie who had survived a bout of meningitis as a child. I was intrigued at how much she and Mama Sarah looked like twins. She also showed me a potrait of her father, Kendy Galmore; which hung on the wall behind her potbellied stove. She had a hodge podge of calendars, documents and photos all around her small tin-roof home. Up until she moved in with my grandfather in the last 3 years of her life, she often used that potbellied black stove to cook biscuits to go with my favorite fig preserves that she used to make like clockwork every year in the summer and early fall. To this day, figs are one of my favorite fruits. I even remember the chickens and chicks that used to run around her yard and the big white rose bush that always seemed to be in bloom whenever my family visited during the summer. I miss Mama Sarah and treasure all the warm memories I have of her.